The document discusses how the rise of social media and digital connections has led people to trust strangers online and see them as influencers. A 2008 study surveyed over 17,000 internet users across 29 countries and found that social media was growing trust in strangers by allowing anonymous digital connections and sharing through new online channels. This new landscape of influence has created an economy around online opinions and recommendations, giving individual users power to influence others that was previously reserved for traditional celebrities, companies, or organizations.